I AIN'T DEAD.

posted April 25, 2003 by Jenn

First of all, I'm still here, for those who think I may have gone and wasted away somewhere. Though, I guess one could tell cuz Blah is still being updated.

Now, on the subject of nostalgia, allow me to expand the topic more into the subject of music. As seen above, we can see how the re-vamp of the culture this crew has grown up in gets folks all excited, in both a good way and a bad way. I remember sitting down after summer camp and watching He-Man, followed by GI Joe with some Transformers here and there, among other shows. I remember Technotronic with Ya Kid K and MARRS, I remember old school techno, which is much much better than the absolute filth dance clubs nowadays play. (Try "Meditation" by Air of Gloom) I remember all this stuff and grumble about how the kids of that age right now are experiencing it, only filtered, watered down and glossed over. Or, in the case of much of the music, remixed. However, with me, this vexation extends beyond the 80s. It's rare I'll say that I really hate anything, but I flat out HATE it when artists of today use good songs from eras gone by, rip the music and add their own lyrics. I believe it was Puff Daddy who reamed "Every Breath You Take" by Police. Then there's the good stuff from the early 1900's...I'm talking about Big Band. For example, many of you may remember the Chips Ahoy commercial with that li'l dancing, flying 3D exclamation point and the big band song playing in the background. But not many of you probably have heard that song in its entirety. Awesome stuff. I have not been able to find out the actual name and artist of that song, so all I can call it is the Chips Ahoy theme. That's pretty pitiful if you ask me. Never mind the other classic stuff from early blues, jazz, motown, disco and other eras/genres that gets used in commercials and for promotions and things. The younger crowd hears it and has no idea that the song wasn't just released a few months ago. Anyway, if any of you happen to know the name of that song, tell me what it is! And don't get me started on Will Smith. At the time of their release, Men In Black, Miami and Wild Wild West all had music ripped from songs aged at least 15 years old, from disco to motown. Just The Two Of Us is a nice song from a father to a son, but couldn't he come up with something original to rap to? Ai yi yi...

It's one thing to be all about a culture because that's what's being packaged and sold to you and another thing to actually appreciate it. Funny thing is, I look at all this, look back and think how the culture I grew up in is being taken, re-digested and spit back out to the kids of the age group I was at the time. And I think about how these kids just don't know, how they have no idea. Then I realize that, 15 years ago, twenty-somethings were saying the exact same thing.

*UPDATE* Thanks to the many, many attentive readers who sent me the name and artist of the song I had asked about above. The song is 'Sing Sing Sing' played (most famously) by The Benny Goodman Orchestra. Do check it out, it's worth it!